Safety attachment for bank vaults



, April 23, 1929. I L. K. MATEFFY 1,710,546

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR BANK VAULTS Filed June 22, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ilk j Inventor i fesll'e K Mateffy tt'ornegs.

.April 23, 1929. L. K. MATEFFY SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR. BANK VAULTS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 22, 1927 Q Inventor.-

Leslie K Mateffy a Mm April 23, 1929. 1.. K. MATEFFY 1,710,546

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR BANK VAULTS Filed June 22, 192'? 4 Shets-Sheep 5 ven. for Mai'effy Kt'tornegs Patented A 23, 1929.

LESLIE K. MATEFEY, OF MILACA, MINNESOTA.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR BAN-K VAULTS.

Application filed June 22,

My invention relates to safety attachments for bank vaults. Daylight robberies of banks have been constantly increasing, and are much more frequent thanformerly.

In order that the robbers may get away without analarm being quickly given it is necessary for them to take care of the bank employees in some way so that they are incapable of giving an alarm until after ample time for escape has been given.

Robbers have found that the most conven-' ient way of'avoiding trouble from the bank employees is to lock them in the vault. When the vault door is completely closed,

the vault is sealed up practically airtight and persons imprisoned therein not only suffer from lackof oxygen but unless releasedin time will perish from this cause. An object,,therefore, of my invention isto' provide an attachment which when set for daytime, prevents complete closing of the vault door and thereby prevents the throwing of the customary bolts into locking vposition. A further object is to provide an attachment which renders it difficult to reopen the door-from the outside'after attempted closing thereof by a robber but which may be readily released by persons within the vault so that such persons may open the door and escape from the vault. A further object isto provide an attachment of the.

character described which may beset in inoperative position so as not to'interfere with the complete locking of the door for'night time.

The full objects and advantages ofmy invention will appear in condition with de tailed description thereof, and the novel features of my inventive idea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings -which illustrate the application of my invention,-' Fig. 1 is an inside view of a bank vaultdoor showing it locked by the cust'oma ry bolts and also showing my attachment applied. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear. eleva- V tional view of the door on an .enlarged scaleshowing the position of certain parts when the door is opened. Fig. 3 is a'view similar. to Fig. 2 but showing certain parts in position which prevent robbers from completely closing the door. Fig. 4: is a view in section 1 on the line 4l--1 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view showing the door partly locked by my attachment but held against complete closing and locking. Fig. 6 is a 1927. Serial N6. 200,728.

view similar to Fig.5 but showing the attachment set in inoperative position so that the door may be completely locked. Fig. 7 is a fragmentaryview showing the attachment set for daytimel Fig. 8 is a'view similar to Fig. '7 but showing the attachment set to permit complete locking of the door at night. Fig. 9 is a view in section on the line 99 of Fig. 5.

The drawings illustrate a vault door in which bolts are operated by carrying bars in well known manner but it is to be understood that my'invention may be applied to vault doors having other forms of bolt operating mechanism. vReferring to the particular construction shown, the door 10 is provided with pairs of horizontal bolts 12 secured to carrying bars 14: and slidably mounted in vertical frame members 16.

- The door is also provided with vertical bolts 18 secured to carrying bars 20 and slidably Pairs of horizontal bolts are caused to move .111'111113011 by inclinedarms 2 1, intermediately pivoted to the middle; frame member" 16 while the vertical bolts are also caused to move at the sametime by. bell cranks 26 intermediately pivoted to the doors and attached at their re'spect-iveends to horizontal bolts and. to the bars 20. The lock which may be of usual'construction is contained within a casing 28 secured to the inside of the door 10. The lock as shoWn;includes a locking bolt 30 adapted to extendbetween apair of dogs 32 intermediately pivoted at 34 to the door and connected by'pin and slot connections 36 to the'carrying bar 14 which may be moved when the lock is set for sliding the bolts, by means of an arm 38, one end of which has a pin and slot connection 10 with the bar 1 1 and the other endof which is carried by av spindle 12 journaled in the door. As shown particularly in Fig. 9, a bracket 14C is secured to the inside of the flange 16 whichsurrounds the door opening of the vault. A bolt l8 is fixedly carried by the bracket 44 and a hooked member is pivotally mounted on this bolt. The free end of the member 50 is rounded on its lower side as indicated at 52 and is provided with a notch 54; The lower portion of this notch is constituted by a curved surface 56 and the upper portion of the notch has a hook 58. The rear end of the member 50 is provided with a sliding pin 60 which is adapted to cooperate'with an inclined notch:

mounted in transverse frame members22.

62 in the fixed bolt 48. The inwardly extending flange 64 of the door carries a laterally projecting pin 66. For daytime use, the sliding pin 60 is retracted as shown in Fig. 7 so that the hooked member 50 lies in a horizontal position. If an attempt is now made to close the door, the pin 66 will engage the front inclined surface of the hook '58, thereby lifting the member 50 so that the pin 66 enters the notch 54 whereupon the member 50 will drop into the position shown in Fig. 5. The door is now held in nearlyclosed position but not sufficiently closed to permit operating the locking bolts inserted between the door and the vault to lift the member 50. This will be apparentfrom Fig. 9. Since time is required to open .the door when time partly secured,- the chance of the robbers opening the doorwhen" they have attempted to close it is very slight and furthermore, a person placed inside the vault could prevent lifting the member by putting his weight against the inside of the door. in order to completely lock the door for night time, tl e hooked member 50 is swung into the inclined position shown in Fig. 8 and the pin so is pushed into the notch 62 which holds the member 50 in its inclined position. Upon now swinging the door toward closing position, the pin 66 engages the rounded surface 52 as indicated at 66 and the door also engages this rounded surface so that the member 50 is lifted, still further and into the position shown in G. This permits the door to be completely locked and at the same time the pin 60 rides around the bolt 48 out of the notch 62 so that when the door is opened in the morning, the member 50 drops into operative position shown in Fig. 7 so as to be again ready to function in the manner previously described. A dog 68 is provided for cooperation with the portion of the attachment already described. This dog is mounted on a pivot pin 70 carried by a casing 72 secured to the carrying bar 14 so as to be located between the latter and the door as will be evident from Fig. 4. The dog 68 is provided with an outwardly extending arm 74 and with an .edge 76 produced by cutting away one corner. A screw 78 secured to the casing 72 constitutes a stop 'to limit the turning movement of the dog.

W hen the door is to be locked for the night,

would still be unable to lock thedoor.

the dog is placed in the position shown in Fig. 2 with its arm 74 extending out toward engagement with the stop -78. It will be noted that the sliding bolt cannot now be moved into locking position since the dog engages the frame member 16 as shown in Fig. 4 and prevents movcmentof the carrying bar 14 toward locking position. It will now be understood that in case robbers should become familiar with the operation of the member 50 and set it in its inoperative position as shown in Fig. 8, they The dog 68 may be placed anywhere along car-' rying bar 14 so that its position would not be readily located by burglars I although authorized persons would of coursev be familiar with its exact location.

I-claim:

1. The combination with a vault and'door therefor, of a projection secured to the side moved toward closing position said member is engaged by said .projectionto prevent complete closing of the door and to prevent reopening of the door from the outside, and a sliding pin carried by said hookedmember and adapted to be pushed into said notch forholding said member in inclined inoperative position, the complete closing of the door moving said pin out of said notch.

2. Thecombination with a vault and door therefor, of a projection carried by one of said elements, a bolt carried by the other of said elements, said bolt being provided with an inclined'notch, a hooked member pivotally mounted on said boltand normally occupying a position such that when the door is moved toward closing position said member is engaged by said projection to prevent complete closing of the door and to prevent reopening of the door fromthe outside, and a sliding pin carried by said hooked member and adapted to be pushed into said notch for holding said member in inclined inoperative position, the complete closing of the door moving said pin out of said notch.

3. The combination with a vault and door therefor, of an engageable member carried I by one of said elements, a pivot carried by the other of said elements, said pivot being provided with an inclined notch, a second bepushed into said notch for holding said cng'ageable member pivotally mounted on member in inoperative position, the complete 10 said pivot and normally occupying a'posiclosing of the door moving said pin out of tion such that When the door is moved tosaid notch to restore the device to operative Ward closing position, said members engage p siti n- 7 each other to prevent complete closing of In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my the door, and a sliding pin carried by said signature. second engageable member and adapted to LESLIE K. MATEFFY. 

